Reporting errors to a data storage device

ABSTRACT

An error mechanism provides stored error information to assist in determining the cause of failure of a storage device such as a hard disk drive. The error mechanism gathers information surrounding an error event from various software and hardware components in the system. An event command is sent to the storage device that includes the gathered information. The storage device stores the gathered information from the event command in a log on the storage device. After the storage device is removed from the system the error information in the log can be used to determine the cause of the failure. The event command may be standardized into an existing industry communication protocol or be vendor specific.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

This invention generally relates to data storage in a computingenvironment, and more specifically relates to reporting errors to a datastorage device and storing error information on the data storage devicesuch that the error information is available later to assist indetermining the cause of the error.

2. Background Art

Cloud computing is a common expression for distributed computing over anetwork and can also be used with reference to network-based servicessuch as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). IaaS is a cloud basedservice that provides physical processing resources to run virtualmachines (VMs) as a guest for different customers. The virtual machinemay host a user application or a server.

A computing environment, such as a cloud computing environment, may havea large number of data storage devices. Data storage devices typicallyhave higher failure rates than other components of the computing system.In many cases, the host computer detects an issue with a drive, and thedrive is sent back to the manufacturer. However, the manufacturer oftensees no issues with the drive and is unable to determine the cause ofthe failure.

BRIEF SUMMARY

An apparatus and method reports error information to assist indetermining the cause of failure of a storage device such as a hard diskdrive. An error mechanism gathers information surrounding an error eventfrom various software and hardware components in the system. An eventcommand is sent to the storage device that includes the gatheredinformation. The storage device stores the gathered information from theevent command in a log on the storage device. After the storage deviceis removed from the system the error information in the log can be usedto determine the cause of the failure. The event command may bestandardized into an existing industry communication protocol or may bevendor specific.

The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will beapparent from the following more particular description of preferredembodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be described in conjunction with the appendeddrawings, where like designations denote like elements, and:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cloud computing node;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a cloud computing environment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of abstraction model layers;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram that illustrates a system with an errormechanism as described herein for reporting errors to a data storagedevice;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram that illustrates a system in a cloudenvironment with an error mechanism for reporting errors to a datastorage device;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram that illustrates notification paths for anerror mechanism for reporting errors to a data storage device in an LPARenvironment;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram that illustrates notification paths for anerror mechanism for reporting errors to a data storage device in avirtualized environment;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram that illustrates an example structure for anevent command;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a method for reporting errors to a datastorage device; and

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of an example method for step 980 in FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The claims and disclosure herein describe reporting error information toassist in determining the cause of failure of a storage device such as ahard disk drive. An error mechanism gathers information surrounding anerror event from various software and hardware components in the system.An event command is sent to the storage device that includes thegathered information. The storage device stores the gathered informationfrom the event command in a log on the storage device. After the storagedevice is removed the gathered information can be used to determine thecause of the failure. The event command may be standardized into anexisting industry communication protocol or may be vendor specific.

It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes adetailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachingsrecited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented inconjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). Theconsumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructureincluding network, servers, operating systems, storage, or evenindividual application capabilities, with the possible exception oflimited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for loadbalancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram of an example of a cloudcomputing node is shown. Cloud computing node 100 is only one example ofa suitable cloud computing node and is not intended to suggest anylimitation as to the scope of use or functionality of embodiments of theinvention described herein. Regardless, cloud computing node 100 iscapable of being implemented and/or performing any of the functionalityset forth hereinabove.

In cloud computing node 100 there is a computer system/server 110, whichis operational with numerous other general purpose or special purposecomputing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with computer system/server 110 include, but are notlimited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thinclients, thick clients, handheld or laptop devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframecomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments thatinclude any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

Computer system/server 110 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 110 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As shown in FIG. 1, computer system/server 110 in cloud computing node100 is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. Thecomponents of computer system/server 110 may include, but are notlimited to, one or more processors or processing units 120, a systemmemory 130, and a bus 122 that couples various system componentsincluding system memory 130 to processor 120.

Bus 122 represents one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 110 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 110, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

System memory 130 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile, such as firmware 132, random access memory (RAM) 134,and/or cache memory 136. Computer system/server 110 may further includeother removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer systemstorage media. By way of example only, storage system 140 can beprovided for reading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatilemagnetic media (not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Althoughnot shown, a magnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to aremovable, non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and anoptical disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable,non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other opticalmedia can be provided. In such instances, each can be connected to bus122 by one or more data media interfaces. As will be further depictedand described below, memory 130 may include at least one program producthaving a set (e.g., at least one) of program modules that are configuredto carry out the functions described in more detail below.

Program/utility 150, having a set (at least one) of program modules 152,may be stored in memory 130 by way of example, and not limitation, aswell as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one ormore application programs, other program modules, and program data orsome combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules 152 generally carry out the functionsand/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention as describedherein.

Computer system/server 110 may also communicate with one or moreexternal devices 190 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display180, a disk drive, etc.; one or more devices that enable a user tointeract with computer system/server 110; and/or any devices (e.g.,network card, modem, etc.) that enable computer system/server 110 tocommunicate with one or more other computing devices. Such communicationcan occur via Input/Output (I/O) interfaces 170. Still yet, computersystem/server 110 can communicate with one or more networks such as alocal area network (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or apublic network (e.g., the Internet) via network adapter 160. Asdepicted, network adapter 160 communicates with the other components ofcomputer system/server 110 via bus 122. It should be understood thatalthough not shown, other hardware and/or software components could beused in conjunction with computer system/server 110. Examples include,but are not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processingunits, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, dataarchival storage systems, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 2, illustrative cloud computing environment 200 isdepicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 200 comprises one ormore cloud computing nodes 100 with which local computing devices usedby cloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant(PDA) or cellular telephone 210A, desktop computer 210B, laptop computer210C, and/or automobile computer system 210N may communicate. Nodes 100may communicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown)physically or virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private,Community, Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or acombination thereof. This allows cloud computing environment 200 tooffer infrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which acloud consumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 210A-Nshown in FIG. 2 are intended to be illustrative only and that computingnodes 100 and cloud computing environment 200 can communicate with anytype of computerized device over any type of network and/or networkaddressable connection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 3, a set of functional abstraction layers providedby cloud computing environment 200 (FIG. 2) is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 3 are intended to be illustrative only and the disclosure andclaims are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers andcorresponding functions are provided.

Hardware and software layer 310 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include mainframes 352; RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers 354;servers 356; blade servers 358; storage devices 360; and networks andnetworking components 362. In some embodiments, software componentsinclude network application server software 364 and database software366.

Virtualization layer 320 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers368; virtual storage 370; virtual networks 372, including virtualprivate networks; virtual applications and operating systems 374; andvirtual clients 376.

In one example, management layer 330 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning 378 provides dynamic procurement ofcomputing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing 380provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloudcomputing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may comprise applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal 382 provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management 384provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such thatrequired service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planningand fulfillment 386 provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of,cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipatedin accordance with an SLA. The management layer further includes anerror mechanism (EM) 350 as described herein. While the EM 350 is shownin FIG. 3 to reside in the management layer 330, the EM 350 actually mayspan other levels shown in FIG. 3 as needed.

Workloads layer 340 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation 386; software development and lifecycle management 390;virtual classroom education delivery 392; data analytics processing 394;transaction processing 396 and mobile desktop 398.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a block diagram illustrates a simplified systemwith an error mechanism (EM) 400. In this example, the EM 400 isdescribed in a generic computer system 414. Computer system 414represents a system such as computing system 110 shown in FIG. 1 but notnecessarily part of a cloud computing system. In this example, the EM400 may be a program module 152 as introduced in FIG. 1. The EM 400reports errors to a data storage device 410. The EM 400 resides withinowner 412. The owner 412 is the logical owner of the storage device 410.The owner 412 is typically a software entity such as an operating systemthat controls accesses to the storage device 410. The owner 412 couldalso be hardware. In this example, the owner 412 is software residing onhardware of computer system 414. The EM 400 gathers informationsurrounding an error event from various software and hardware componentsin the computer system 414 and sends an event command 416 to the storagedevice 410 where the event command 416 includes the gathered errorinformation. The EM 400 may use filter rules 418 to determine what errorevents to report to the storage device 410 as described further below.The storage device 410 processes the event command with error mechanism422 residing in the storage device 410. The term “error mechanism” asused herein thus may include both portions, EM 400 residing in thecomputer system 414 and EM 422 residing in the storage device 410. TheEM 422 residing in the storage device 410 may be part of a commandprocessor 420 that process normal data input/output of the storagedevice as known in the prior art. The EM 422 in the command processor420 stores the information from the event command 416 in an event log424 on the storage device 410. After the storage device 410 isphysically and/or logically removed from the computer system, theinformation stored in the event log 424 can help troubleshoot the causeof the failure of the storage device.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a block diagram illustrates another simplifiedsystem with an error mechanism similar to that described in FIG. 4. Inthis example, the EM 350 is part of a cloud computing system asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 3. The EM 350 reports errorsassociated with a data storage device. In this example, the data storagedevice is a hard disk drive (HDD) 510. The EM 350 resides within ahypervisor 512 which is the logical owner of the HDD 510. In thisexample, the hypervisor 512 is software residing on hardware of hostcomputer system 514. The EM 350 gathers information surrounding an errorevent from various software and hardware components in the host computersystem 514 and sends an event command 416 to the HDD 510 where the eventcommand 416 includes the gathered information. The EM 350 may use filterrules 518 to determine what error events to report to the storage device410 as described further below. The HDD 510 processes the event commandwith a portion of the EM 522 residing in the storage device 510. Theterm error mechanism as used herein thus may include both portions, EM350 and EM 522. The EM 522 residing in the HDD 510 may be part of acommand processor 520 that process normal data input/output of the HDD510 as known in the prior art. The EM 522 in the command processor 520stores the information from the event command 416 in an event log 524 onthe HDD 510. After the HDD 510 is removed from use, the informationstored in the event log 524 can be used to determine the cause of thefailure.

Referring again to FIG. 5, the system further includes a cloud manager530. The cloud manager 530 may be similar to cloud managers known in theprior art but includes the additional features as described herein. Thecloud manager 530 allows a human user or system administrator 532 to setup and manage computer resources through a user interface 534. The cloudmanager 530 implements the cloud management functions 330 describedabove with reference to FIG. 3. The cloud manager 530 allows the systemadministrator 532 to set up and manage physical computer resources. Inthe illustrated example, the computer resources include the hostcomputer 514. The cloud manager 530 may further allow the systemadministrator 532 to set up the filter rules 518 as described furtherbelow.

As introduced above with respect to FIG. 5, the EM 350 reports errorsthat are associated with a data storage device 410 with an event command416 to the HDD 510. The EM 350 may first determine whether the storagedevice or disk drive supports logging host error events. This may bedone at “boot” time or whenever the storage device is initially set up.This may be done by accessing the device with a command of the specifiedformat and looking for the proper response. If the logging of hostevents is supported on the storage device, then the EM 350 may continueby communicating with the other software and hardware components in thesystem to instruct the other components to report detected errors andpertinent error information to the EM 350. The EM 350 may alsosynchronize clocks of the system components to ensure error informationthat is reported is synchronized. When detected events are reported, theEM 350 may filter the detected events as described further below beforesending an event command to the storage device.

Again referring to FIG. 5, an event command is received and processed bythe error mechanism 522 residing on the storage device as introducedabove. The error mechanism 522 first receives the event command in anappropriate format from the error mechanism 350 on the host 514. Theerror mechanism 522 then processes the event command 416. The errormechanism 522 may take some action according to the event command whereappropriate. For example, if a power glitch was detected, the drive mayswitch any write-back caching it is doing to do write-through caching.In another example, if a thermal situation is detected external to thedrive, the drive speed could be reduced. The error mechanism then storesthe information about the event from the event command in the event log524 on the storage device for later failure analysis.

As introduced above, the EM 350 communicates with various components ofthe system to gather information surrounding error events to send to thedata storage device. The paths of communication to the EM 350 may varydepending on the environment. FIG. 6 is a block diagram that illustratesa first example of notification for a first environment. Thesenotification paths can be used to send information and system errorsthat can be used to troubleshoot errors of the storage device to the EM350. The example shown in FIG. 6 is for a logical partition (LPAR)environment. A LPAR environment uses systems and/or software byInternational Business Machines, Inc. In this environment, a VIO server610 is a dedicated LPAR that is assigned to handle virtual input/outputto a storage device 614. The VIO server 610 operates under the controlof the hypervisor 612. The components that can communicate errorinformation concerning the storage device 614 include a serviceprocessor 616, a storage adapter 618 and one or more VIO clients 620.The service processor is a processor that is not within the hypervisorand is used for basic services in the physical host computer. Theservice processor 616 can communicate directly with the hypervisor 612or with the storage adapter 618. The storage adapter 618 can communicatewith the hypervisor 612 or the VIO server 610. The VIO clients 620 cancommunicate with the hypervisor 612 or the VIO server 610. The VIOserver 610 communicates with the storage device 614 and passes the errorevent commands as described herein.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram that illustrates another example ofnotification paths for the EM 350 to receive error reports. This exampleis for a logical virtual machine in an environment on a typical x86virtualization platform. In this environment, the hypervisor 710 is theowner of the storage device 712. The hypervisor 710 controls one or moreclient virtual machines (VM) 714. The components that can communicateerror information concerning the storage device 712 include a serviceprocessor 716, a storage adapter 718 and one or more clients VMs 714.Similar to the previous example, the service processor 716 cancommunicate directly with the hypervisor 710 or with the storage adapter718. The storage adapter 718 communicates with the hypervisor 710. Theclient VMs 714 communicate with the hypervisor 710. The hypervisor 710communicates with the storage device 712 and passes the error eventcommands as described herein.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show paths of communication from various components to theEM 350 for notification of an error event. These paths of communicationare typically available in the systems as described above. Each of thevarious components may report different errors on these paths. Examplesof the types of events these various components may report to the EM 350may include many different events. For example, the service processor616, 716 may report power glitches, system power use (e.g., periodicmessages to record average/max power use), and host system information(serial number, model number, etc.). The hypervisor 612 may report apower on/off of a VIO client 620, or a crash of a VIO client 620. TheVIO Server 610 may report a VIO client connect/disconnect, andoccasional data statistics. If the VIO server 610 is the drive owner,then it may also report any peripheral component interconnect (PCI)errors. The VIO client 620 and the Client VM 714 may report virtual diskinformation (creation/deletion/resizing), and errors in reported data.The disk storage adapter 618, 718 may report PCI errors, hardwareconfiguration errors, etc. Each of these errors can be processed by theEM 350 to create an event command to send to the storage device forlogging of the error as described herein.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram that illustrates an example of a possibleformat for the event command 416 introduced above with reference to FIG.4. The format of the event command 416 may be a proprietary format of acomputer vendor, or it could be incorporated into an industry standard.For example, the event command 416 could be incorporated into the SmallComputer System Interface (SCSI) standards developed by the AmericanNational Standards Institute. The established SCSI command format has aone byte operation code, and a variable length block with commandparameters depending on the operation code. A special operation code 812could be incorporated into the SCSI standard to indicate this datastructure is an event command 416 for an externally initiated log entryas described herein. The remaining parameters for the event command 416may then include the followings: a vender identification (ID) 814, anentity ID 816, a version ID 818, an event type 820, an event data length822, a time stamp 824 and event data 826. The vendor ID 814 identifiesthe vendor of the hardware or software entity creating the log entry.The entity ID 816 identifies the piece of hardware or software creatingthe log entry. For example, the entity ID 816 could be a hypervisor, anoperating system or a storage adapter. The version ID 818 identifies theversion of the entity identified by the entity ID 816. The event type820 identifies the type of event that is being reported by the eventcommand 416. Some event types might be standardized (e.g., values 0-63),while others might be specific to the vendor or entity (e.g., values64-255). The event data length 822 indicates size of the data blockstored in event data 826. The timestamp 824 identifies the time that theevent happened, and may be synchronized to the disk's time system. Theevent data 826 includes the error information stored in the eventcommand 416.

As introduced above with reference to FIG. 4, the EM 350 may filterdetected events based on filter rules 518. The filter rules 518 providea way for the EM 350 to determine what events to report and to whichdata storage device to report the event. The filter rules may be set oraltered by the system administrator 532. For example, a filter rule mayindicate to store any power glitch error to all the data storage devices510. While this type of error is not directly related to a data storagedevice error, it may provide useful information in conjunction withother errors reported at the same time. As another example, the filterrules 518 may indicate to store errors reported by a storage adapter(618, 718 in FIGS. 6 and 7). If the error reported by a storage adapteroriginated from a storage device, the error would preferably be sentonly to the storage device that reported the error. Another example of afilter rule would be a “set negative” rule that excludes notificationspushed to the drive to prevent the drive's log from being filled withuseless information. For example, a “set negative” rule may be used fora system that is constantly being powered on and off and where it wouldbe useful to exclude this notification from being logged.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 900 for reporting errorsto a data storage device. The method 900 is presented as a series ofsteps performed by a computer software program such as the errormechanism 350 and 522 described above. First, determine whether thestorage device or disk drive supports logging host error events (step910). If the logging of host error events is not supported on thestorage device (step 920=no) then the method is done. If the logging ofhost error events is supported on the storage device (step 920=yes) thencommunicate the determined support to other software components in thesystem (step 930). Next, synchronize clocks of the system to ensureerror information is reported in synchronization (step 940). Reportdetected events to the owner of the storage device or drive (step 950).Filter the detected events based on the filter rules (step 960). When anerror occurs, send an event command to the storage device in a specifiedformat (step 970). Then store event information from the event commandin a log on the storage device (step 980). The method is then done.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a flow diagram shows method 1000 that is anexemplary method for performing step 980 in method 900. The method 1000is presented as a series of steps performed by a computer softwareprogram such as the error mechanism 522 described above. First, receivean event command in an appropriate format (step 1010). Then process theevent command (step 1020). Take action according to the event commandwhere appropriate (step 1030). Store the event from the event command ina log on the storage device for later failure analysis (step 1040). Themethod is done.

The claims and disclosure herein provide an apparatus and method forreporting errors to a data storage device and storing error informationsuch that the error information is available to more efficiently andaccurately determine the cause of the error.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that many variations are possiblewithin the scope of the claims. Thus, while the disclosure isparticularly shown and described above, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that these and other changes in form and details maybe made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theclaims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for reportingerrors to a data storage device, the method comprising: reporting adetected error event associated with the storage device to an owner ofthe storage device; in response to the detected error event, sending anevent command to the storage device in a specified format; storing errorevent information from the event command in a log on the storage device;filtering detected events based on filter rules; determining whether thestorage device supports logging host error events; when the storagedevice supports logging host error events, then communicating support oflogging error events by the data storage device to system components;and synchronizing clocks of system components.
 2. The method of claim 1further comprising allowing a system administrator to define the filterrules that indicate what errors to report and log on the data storagedevice.
 3. The method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving the eventcommand in an appropriate format; processing the event command; andstoring information about an event from the event command in an eventlog.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the steps are performed by a partof a management layer of a cloud computing environment.
 5. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the steps are performed on an entity that is an owner ofthe data storage device.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the eventcommand is processed in the data storage device to recognize the eventcommand and store information from the event command in the log.
 7. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the owner of the data storage device receiveserror information from various components in the system including aservice processor, a storage adapter and a virtual machine client. 8.The method of claim 1 wherein the event command satisfies an industrystandard.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the event command includesblocks chosen from the following: an operation code, a vendor ID, andentity ID, a version ID, an event type, an event data length, a timestamp and event data.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the detectederror events are detected by software and hardware components in thesystem and reported to the owner of the storage device.
 11. The methodof claim 10 wherein the software and hardware components in the systemthat detect and report the detected error events comprise: a serviceprocessor, a storage adapter, and a client virtual machine.
 12. Acomputer-implemented method for reporting errors to a data storagedevice, the method comprising: reporting a detected error eventassociated with the storage device to an owner of the storage device; inresponse to the detected error event, sending an event command to thestorage device in a specified format; storing error event informationfrom the event command in a log on the storage device; and allowing asystem administrator to define filter rules that indicate what errors toreport and log on the data storage device.
 13. The method of claim 12further comprising: receiving the event command in an appropriateformat; processing the event command; and storing information about anevent from the event command in an event log.
 14. The method of claim 13further comprising: filtering detected events based on the filter rules;determining whether the storage device supports logging host errorevents; when the storage device supports logging host error events, thencommunicating support of logging error events by the data storage deviceto system components; and synchronizing clocks of system components. 15.The method of claim 12 wherein the steps are performed on an entity thatis an owner of the data storage device.
 16. The method of claim 12wherein the owner of the data storage device receives error informationfrom various components in the system including a service processor, astorage adapter and a virtual machine client.
 17. The method of claim 12wherein the event command includes blocks chosen from the following: anoperation code, a vendor ID, and entity ID, a version ID, an event type,an event data length, a time stamp and event data.
 18. Acomputer-implemented method for reporting errors to a data storagedevice, the method comprising: reporting a detected error eventassociated with the storage device to an owner of the storage device; inresponse to the detected error event, sending an event command to thestorage device in a specified format; receiving the event command in anappropriate format; processing the event command; storing informationabout an event from the event command in an event log storing the errorevent information from the event command in the event log on the storagedevice; filtering detected events based on filter rules; determiningwhether the storage device supports logging host error events; when thestorage device supports logging host error events, then communicatingsupport of logging error events by the data storage device to systemcomponents; synchronizing clocks of system components; and allowing asystem administrator to define the filter rules that indicate whaterrors to report and log on the data storage device.
 19. The method ofclaim 18 wherein the event command includes blocks chosen from thefollowing: an operation code, a vendor ID, and entity ID, a version ID,an event type, an event data length, a time stamp and event data.